Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

494 results found

Kanchipuram

(Encyclopedia)Kanchipuram kŭnˈchēpo͝orəm [key], formerly Conjeeveram, city (1991 pop. 171,129), Tamil Nadu state, S India. Sacred to Hindus, it is known as the “golden city” and the “Varanasi of the sout...

Robinson, Sugar Ray

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Sugar Ray, 1920–89, American boxer, b. Detroit as Walker Smith, Jr. He began boxing after three years of high school in New York City. Having won all his amateur fights (about 90), includi...

Wieland, Christoph Martin

(Encyclopedia)Wieland, Christoph Martin krĭsˈtôf märˈtĭn vēˈlänt [key], 1733–1813, German poet and novelist. His style, typical of the German rococo, is elegant, satiric, and often playful. He borrowed s...

brodiea

(Encyclopedia)brodiea or brodiaea both: brədēˈə [key], any plant of the genus Brodiaea, herbs of the family Liliaceae (lily family), with narrow leaves and blue or purple star-shaped flowers. The many North Ame...

Brown, Margaret Wise

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910–52, American children's book author, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.A Hollins College, 1932. Continuing her education at the Bureau of Educational Experiments (now the Bank Street C...

Besant, Sir Walter

(Encyclopedia)Besant, Sir Walter bĭzăntˈ [key], 1836–1901, English novelist and humanitarian, grad. Christ's College, Cambridge, 1859. He taught at the Royal College of Mauritius from 1861 to 1867. After his r...

Tilton, Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Tilton, Theodore, 1835–1907, American journalist, b. New York City. After working for the New York Observer he was (1863–71) editor in chief of the Independent, a Congregationalist weekly. He late...

Sons of Liberty

(Encyclopedia)Sons of Liberty, secret organizations formed in the American colonies in protest against the Stamp Act (1765). They took their name from a phrase used by Isaac Barré in a speech against the Stamp Act...

Osler, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Osler, Sir William ōˈslər [key], 1849–1919, Canadian physician, M.D. McGill Univ., 1872. Renowned as a physician and as a medical historian, he was also the most brilliant and influential teacher...

Belmonte, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Belmonte, Juan hwän bĕlmōnˈtā [key], 1892–1962, Spanish matador, b. Seville. He is generally considered the greatest matador of all time, as remarkable for the poetry of his motion in the bullr...